


Movie Night

by jazzsingerr1985



Category: Avengers (Comics), Captain America (Comics), Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: F/M, Feelings, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Grief/Mourning, Love Confessions, Nostalgia, Pining, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Reader-Insert, Secret Crush, Sexual Tension, Sweet, Wizard of Oz References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:00:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 13,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21537865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jazzsingerr1985/pseuds/jazzsingerr1985
Summary: You have feelings for Steve, but are not ready to tell him yet out of your own self-preservation.Post-snap, the world is a darker/sadder place. He is your grief counselor and co-worker. You don't want to blur the lines too much, but one of your issues is you don't let people get close to you, even if you want their love so badly.So... Today... on a Friday evening... You're gonna try.
Relationships: Steve Rogers & Reader, Steve Rogers/Reader
Comments: 12
Kudos: 83





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a dream I had. Hope you enjoy :) Leave a kudos if you like the story :)
> 
> I might do a part 2 - not sure depending on the feedback I get, let me know.

You’ve watched him throughout the work day. He was quiet, hard to read when in meetings. He looked tough and intimidating at times. Then in the evenings he showed a different, and slightly warmer side when running the grief counseling group. He would listen, give good advice, made you feel like you were being heard. He was actually the one who encouraged you to join as you became more reclusive, and at times you would blow up on people at work due to misplaced feelings, only to apologize and regret it later. This wasn’t who you were inside, it’s just everyone lost people they loved and had trouble coping. Everyone was on edge, dealing with brokenness in their own way, healthy or not… and it was starting to show – even a year after the snap.

From the moment you first saw him years ago, you knew he was special. You’d been holding back your feelings for him so long. So grateful he wasn’t one who was taken away after the snap. It felt good, but also broke your heart at the same time when you’d hitch a ride with him to go to your sessions together, holding him in your arms. Keeping his body close to you while on this motorcycle. He smelled good, he felt good, he looked good, you felt safe around him… and he had no clue. A part of him always seemed distant, you never heard about him dating anyone else since you’ve met. You just didn’t want to make a fool out of yourself or potentially ruin any good friendship and trust you both have.

From your cubical you could see Steve standing in the boardroom looking out the window, the rain coming down hard outside. It was very dark in the city, even though it wasn’t even night time yet. You grew concerned as you stared, his body language seemed to match the mood of the sky. The boardroom had glass walls, so you could see him in full view and you were debating on walking by and leaving him be, but then decided to be brave. You really cared about his well-being, and he had been there for you in those group sessions. Why couldn’t you be there for him too? He looked like he needed to be pulled away from whatever he was thinking.

You got up from your desk, took a deep breath and opened the door to the boardroom and walked towards him, “Hey,” you said and he got pulled out of his thoughts from your voice as he turned from the window to look at you.

“Hey, you’re working late on a Friday?” he asked.

You gave him a side grin, trying to play it cool. “Yeah… I was.” You paused, “You got any plans tonight?” slight smile on your face.

“As a matter of fact, I don’t,” he responded slightly curious, “Why? Were you thinking about going out in this weather young lady?” he said pointing to the window “It’s coming down like cats and dogs”.

You looked out the window with a slight nod and then look back at him, “Well, not exactly… On days like this… I like to stay in and watch movies… Moving pictures as you would call it.” A slight grin came to his face, he appreciated your choice of words.

You smiled back, trying to hide how nervous you really were underneath. “Well, I wanted to invite you over to my apartment after work and watch a movie. I live in this building a few floors down,” You just let the words fall out of your mouth, come hell or high water. You were tired of holding it in. Steve looked at you funny.

You slightly rolled your eyes and took a deep breath in, “I think you know me well enough Steve that it’s not a code for something else…” He looked down and smirked. “Sorry to disappoint,” you said sarcastically “…but…for what’s worth, you know how we talked about in our grief sessions how I have been isolating myself from people?” He immediately looked up from the floor, not expecting you to say that, as talking about therapy was off limits during work hours to keep things professional. He met your eyes, paying attention. You paused in awe of his beautiful blue eyes that you’d been wishing would gaze back lovingly at you for years… but just couldn’t muster the courage to say it. “I’m trying to let people in and it’s not easy for me.” Voice slightly cracking, as your eyebrows frowned and you felt a slight pain in your chest. “I haven’t invited anyone over since I moved in 2 years ago.”

His facial expression during work was always more of an intimidating nature, but after you expressed this, his face started to change to a softer demeanor. His eyes became more compassionate, and more emotional. Your nerves started to show as you bit the corner of your bottom lip and crossed your arms and unconsciously started to sway your body slightly from side to side in a self-soothing manner. He knew to pick up on these tell-tale signs.

He slowly reached out his left hand and placed it lightly on your arm, his thumb lightly stroking your shirt. It felt amazing, but you kept that to yourself. “What movie are we watching?” a slight grin appeared on his face.

You let out a wide smile, “Take a guess…” you said with a slightly husky and playful tone.

He lightly laughed, his hand still on your arm, “I have no idea…”

You looked down at the floor and then back into his beautiful eyes, “You might…” you smiled again, “It might have something to do with “Flying Monkeys”” a mischievous grin appearing on your face.

Steve’s mouth opened with a slight gasp of… delight? _“Yes!”_ you thought in your head.

“The Wizard of OZ?” he asked, his eyes widening. A flicker going off in them.

Your smile got wider, “Yes! Great guess!” you praised as he slightly squeezed your arm, and then placed his hand back to his side.

“I really love this movie; I know most, if not all of the dialogue. I watched it so many times when I was a kid. I haven’t watched it in years.”

“Ahh, I see.” Steve said pleasantly.

“Oh no, I forgot! I did actually watch it, when I was at home with my parents at Christmas time last year. It’s just one of those things I liked to do with my family… before the… snap,” you said sadly. You could tell you were starting to ramble; you were still nervous. “I’m wrapping up some emails, it’s should only take me a few minutes and ahh…” you looked at him and smiled “I’ll guess I’ll meet you at my place? It’s floor 17, apt 1704.”

“Yeah” he said softly smiling back at you.

“Great!” You turned around and hurried towards the boardroom door and upon exiting you turned to make eye contact with Steve again with a smile “And thank you.”

Steve was confused, “What, what are you thanking me for?”

“I’ll tell you later. See you in a bit”, you left to go finish up.

Steve turned back to the window and watched the rain. “ _Something must be up, she’s acting odd.”_

* * *

There was a knock on your door as you just finished making popcorn and straightening your apartment around. You straightened your clothes and took a deep breath to compose yourself before opening the door. There he was, changed out of his Captain America suit and now in civilian clothes. He had a friendly demeanor and seemed to have looked forward to this, smiling to greet you.

You smiled at him and invited him inside, and brought him to your living room. There were two couches, one for each of you. Earlier you had brought comfortable blankets, some from your closet, some from your bed to place on top in case any of you got cold. You ran back into the kitchen to grab the big bowl of popcorn, upon coming back into the room you saw Steve reading the back of the movie box. You smiled that you could even get this far, to have him here at your place. So many times you dreamed of it, but just never thought he would want to.

Steve felt a sense of relief, knowing he was going to be watching something that was from his past and yet something they both could enjoy equally together. He was feeling so tense at the window, before you came into the room, just thinking about old memories. He turned and looked at you holding the popcorn bowl in your hands, a relaxed grin on his face, “You’re pretty sentimental, aren’t you?” his voice as soft as rose petals.

“I’ve been accused of being an old soul on more than one occasion,” you grinned and put the movie on and rested on one of the couches. “Just so you know, since it’s my favourite movie of all time. I cry every single time the music starts at the beginning.” You laughed as he looked at you concerned, “Yeah I know, that makes no sense since the movie hasn’t even started yet. It’s just the music is so beautiful and it happens every time, so if you’re wondering why I’m crying – that’s why.

“It’s not a bad thing…” his voice trailed off.

You felt your walls start to come up. You were letting him into your heart, but a strong part of your self-preservation says no. You nodded at him, pretending to feel at ease. The movie came on and sure enough, the water works starting falling from your eyes as soon as the music came on. You didn’t look at him and he didn’t say anything… but you could feel his eyes on you… and either him giving off a slight smirk or grin. Once the opening scene started you were back to normal and enjoying the nostalgia of your childhood. Steve would look at you during certain parts of the movie and see you sometimes light mouthing the dialogue.

You ended up accidentally falling asleep before the end of the movie and Steve noticed your silence once the movie ended. He watched your face for a few minutes while you slept. He looked you up and down, tangled in the blankets, seeing how sweet you were – so much so that it spoke to his protective side. Since it didn’t sit well with him that you were on the couch, he decided to pick you up and carry you bridal style to your room and placed you back in bed, making sure you were covered and he wrote you a kind note. As Steve was leaving the note on your bedside table, he glanced at the picture you had beside your bed. To his surprise, it was a picture of you and him at the New Years eve party last year! Tony took that picture! He looked down at you sleeping, and slowly leaned in and kissed your forehead, and let himself out. His heart feeling full.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello :)
> 
> I decided to add a chapter 2 since it was requested by readers. I hope you enjoy it. If you would be interested in reading more, let me know. Leave a kudo if you like it. 
> 
> Have a great day!

You woke up to rays of warm sunlight on you face, and realized that you’re in you room. _“Wait… Wasn’t I in the living room with Steve watching The Wizard of OZ?”_ You raised your eyebrows surprised and looked around, as you couldn’t remember how you got into your bed. You walked out into the living room to see the couches were empty and no Steve in sight. You let out a sigh and thought you really blew it. He will probably never want to hang out with you again.

Though it was a beautiful Saturday morning, you felt stupid for falling asleep before he left. Scolding yourself in your head, you walked back into your room and noticed a piece of paper on your night table next to the picture of you and Steve, taken at Tony’s New Year Eve party. It was from Steve: _“Thank you for having me, I was having a rough day. You seemed really tired so I brought you to bed and headed out. I really enjoyed that movie. Call me on my personal number if you want to get together again, I don’t have any plans this weekend. - Steve”_

You about fell over reading this note from him! He was so sweet, but couldn’t tell from the note if he liked you more than a friend or not. You looked at his number again, everyone on the Avengers team only had their business contact information, so this was a step in a direction that you wanted… but just never thought it would come to that. Feeling numb made you feel safe, and you could feel you and Steve were getting closer. You placed the note back down on the night table and gasped at the picture. “ _Oh no… He saw I have a picture of both of us by my bed!”_

Though you had a feeling of dread come over your body, you knew there was nothing you could do about it now. He may know the feelings you harboured for him that you kept to yourself for years now. This made you nervous. You didn’t expect him to come into your bedroom after all. Whatever he saw was done now. You took a deep breath and looked out the window at the city, reflecting on how you wanted to proceed. He clearly left the ball in your court. Do you call or not call? You bit the inside of your cheek, debating.

* * *

Steve was at his apartment in the Avenger’s Tower, looking over documents and files for a mission scheduled for next week when he heard his cell phone ring. It was you. He immediately straightened himself in his chair and took a breath to compose himself before answering. “Hello, Steve Rogers…”

“Hi Steve, it’s me…”

He couldn’t help it as a smile came to his face. “I see you got my note,” he grinned.

“Yes, thank you for that.” You said softly, “I was… wondering…” you paused as the words suddenly stopped coming out of your mouth.

“What were you wondering?” he asked tenderly, his voice sounding deeper.

“Ahh…” you hesitated, “I’m not good at this… as you know from our sessions.” You took another breath, “I’m sorry I fell asleep last night. I don’t think that was very polite of me. I guess rainy days make me sleepy.”

Steve grinned, a lighthearted laugh came through on the phone, “It’s alright (Y/N),” his voice reassuring.

“Are you still free this weekend?” You couldn’t believe you were asking him this.

“I am.” He said matter-of-factly, you wished that you could be having this conversation in person so you could see his face, get more hints at what he was feeling.

You took a deep breath, as your body started to shake, “Okay… I’m free too, and since it’s a nice day outside, maybe we can go out somewhere?” Was all you could think of saying in that moment.

Steve leaned back in his chair thinking, “Alright, I know a place you might like. It’s about an hour drive away. I’ll just wrap things up over here and met you downstairs in about 20 minutes?”

Your eyes widened, you weren’t sure if your heart sank or fluttered or both at his response. “Okay,” your voice breathless and feeling lightheaded. “I’ll meet you there,’’ a small smile appeared on your face as you hung up the phone. You leaned your head back against the wall and closed your eyes, grinning from ear to ear. You loved the sound of his voice, and quickly shook your head and became stoic again. Never let him see you sweat.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!! I have decided to add chapters to this work!
> 
> Please Kudo or comment! I love hearing feedback. Please enjoy, and thank you so much for taking time out of your day to read my work :)

Sure enough, there he was, looking as good as ever. His sunglasses on, brown leather jacket, blue jeans and white shirt. You wearing bootcut jeans, black leather jacket and a blue shirt. “Hey,” he called out walking towards you with a boyish grin, “Ready to go? I got the motorcycle out front.”

You stopped walking and looked at him almost suspiciously, “Where are we going?”

“You’ll have to find out…” he said as he turned around walking out of the building towards to motorcycle, you hesitated at first but then you started following him there.

It was so hard just being friends when holding onto his body tightly as the warm summer wind hit your skin. His hair smelled good too, there were advantages to riding behind him as you could stare at his blonde locks shining in the sun for as long as you wanted, which made you smile. That was until you looked down at the side mirror and saw your smiling face in there and found he was looking at you through the mirror the whole damn time! “ _Ah… Shit,”_ You immediately looked away at the green leaves on the trees you past by and felt your face getting hot, you were praying he wasn’t able to spot you blushing.

“It’s ok,” you heard him say, slightly turning some of his face toward your ear so you could hear above the sound of the motorcycle running while simultaneously slowly dragging his warm palm over one of your hands gripping him for a moment. You were silent as he turned his eyes back to the road and put his hand back on the handle bar. You guys were on country roads in a forest, and slowed down once you past a few cottages tucked away through the trees, until you came to a driveway the lead up to a small cottage.

He parked the motorcycle and you let go of his body, and you quickly got off the bike as you grew apprehensive. He slowly lifted his leg getting off the bike and stared at you, assessing your face. “Where are we?” you asked looking around at the wilderness.

“We’re… At my cottage.” He paused as you looked over your shoulder at the wooden front porch, trees around the perimeter of the property, a lake at the back making soothing river sounds. You took a deep breath of fresh air and it started to relax you. He grinned as he read your body language. “I don’t… Well actually,” he started over as you looked back at him. “I haven’t ever brought anyone up here before. It’s just been me.” He took another breath as you studied him, he seemed a bit vulnerable. “I bought this place after the snap.”

“You don’t bring this up in your sessions… why?” you questioned, “It would be a good thing to talk about, wouldn’t it?” you said encouragingly, side grin on your face.

“You’re not the only one who has a hard time opening up…” his words had weight to it as he stared into your eyes. Now you understood, he was just as closed off from people as you were.

You bit your lip, “So, what are we doing here?” your breath leaving you.

“I… Thought…ahh… We could sit by the lake at the back there,” he pointed in that direction, “I also thought we could have some lunch. There’s food in the kitchen, I went grocery shopping last week.”

“Ok, I just…” you paused, looking down at the ground. He took a step closer to you and you immediately stared back up at him, freezing him right where he stood. “I just… Wanted to know your…” you bit your lip trying to find the right word, “Intentions… Before just walking in… Because I don’t like surprises, especially since the snap.”  
  


He nodded, “I just… Wanna have a good day with you.”

“Human connection?” You stared back into his beautiful blue eyes.

“Yes,” he whispered.

Your lips parted as your face relaxed, “I have walls…”

“We all have walls…" he paused, “If you’re not comfortable being here, it’s ok.” You slightly gasped, “If you want, I can drive you home,’’ he sincerely meant it and waited on your response, sustaining eye contact.

Your heart was hurting in your chest, here he was – the guy you’ve had feelings for – for years. Here with you in this beautiful place, needing human connection, hurting inside… Just like you… And trusted you enough to bring YOU here! You had never seen him like this before… If you said no, then you would go back home and sulk the rest of the weekend away wondering what would’ve happened… If you said yes… who knows…

You looked down at the ground and mumbled, “You’re my co-worker, and my counselor… and I don’t want to make you uncomfortable either…” your voice trailed off as you looked him in the eye, “I’m not, um… wanting to damage anything between us.” You could barely get those statements out.

“No,” he shook his head. “I think we both need some time away from the city. Your face, on the way in, you didn’t smile until we were actually in the country. I know… because I saw.” He paused as you shifted your body weight on your other foot nervously. “There’s 3 separate bedrooms in there,” he continued, “You’ll have your own space whenever you want it.” You started to relax once he said that. You turned your head to look over your shoulder at the beautiful front porch that had a bench and a rocking chair and turned back to him.

“Forgive my hesitation, Steve…” you gulped, “I just wanted to make sure everything was ok”.

"Don't overthink it," he said casually, "Let's go inside and make some lunch.

You smiled and followed his lead to the cottage


	4. Chapter 4

You walked into the cottage after Steve lead the way, and assessed your surroundings once inside. It was quaint, as it had all wooden floors, the smell of the cedar from the forest also seeped into the inside. After walking through the door to your right was the living room. In there was a beautiful stone fireplace which reached the ceiling, the windows had little curtains but you could still see the woods and the green leaves in the trees, there was also a couch, and surprisingly a tv beside a bookshelf which had two fishing rods resting beside it. What you didn’t expect to see were the many beautiful paintings and sketches on the wall. You walked over to a few of them, remarking their beauty, they were so captivating that the look of them pulled you in to take a closer look. A few of them were parts of the city, this area surrounded by the river, animals, meadows, and of people.

“I don’t hunt.” He said as he stood behind you, looking at his work. You turned around looking into his beautiful blue eyes, “I don’t keep trophies like that. I create. I create art…” Then his gaze met yours which made you tremble inside as your feelings started bubbling up again, they were hard to keep down, “It helps me.” His words were heart-felt, and his gaze was like opening closed doors, it seemed that he was closed off up until this moment, like he was wanting a connection with you.

You sighed, understanding what he was saying, “Yeah…” You smiled as you looked back at his works. “You hunt for a living, you’re a soldier…” You slightly nodded, “I understand why,’’ as you turned back to look into his eyes again.

“Do you… do art?” he asked, his voice sounded shaky.

“I don’t know, I never tried…” you turned to him with a sheepish smile, and looked back at his paintings, “They are very beautiful. You’re very talented!” you smiled, “I never knew this about Captain America…” you said playfully.

He tilted his head, “I was sketching years before I became Captain America…” He nodded and turned around and started walking back, clearly he was not good at receiving complements. On the side of the front door was the kitchen. Nothing fancy, a fridge, a stove, cupboards, a sink, and a kitchen table with four chairs. He walked in first and peered into the fridge, “Is there anything you would like to eat?” his back turned to you, he wasn’t good at making conversation, but you certainly didn’t mind the view as he looked in the fridge.

“I’m good with anything…” you smiled, “Whatever you want… um… Don’t go through any extra trouble.” He still had the fridge door open and had his back towards you, you checked him out from behind again… because… You couldn’t help it. “I…” you scoffed to yourself as he turned around, “I still just… Can’t believe I’m actually… You know… Here.’’ You raised your eyebrows as you looked around the room.

“I can’t believe it either,” he glanced at you and then back in the fridge again. You really weren’t sure what to make of him, he was guarded.

“I can make us some soup and we can go sit by the lake. It’s a nice view,” you smiled at him, he couldn’t help but crack a smile as he let out a sigh from his lips. It made your heart swoon when he smiled, he didn’t even know how much he could light up a room. “Yeah, ah… Later I will need to chop some wood. It get’s cooler at night,’’ then his eyes lit up. “Oh, I almost forgot. I’ll show you the two bedrooms you can sleep in, there’s some options.’’ He moved past you and through the living room to get to them, “This one is small, but it has a bed in there and you can see the trees through the window. Next door is the bathroom and beside that is the other bedroom. This one is beside my room, but here you have a view of both the forest and some of the lake.” He looked over at you, “Mine has the full view of the lake.”

You smiled and decided on the bedroom with the view of the forest and the lake, the one beside his bedroom. You walked in, and saw a double bed and a large window with that view. He walked in behind you, “The best part, I think you’ll like is at night. Above the lake you will see a great view of the stars, and in the wooded area, you’ll see fireflies.”

You grinned at him, “I could only imagine,” you took a couple of steps closer to him, “Thank you for bringing me here,” after a moment of full eye contact you wondered if he was thinking about kissing you.

Then he looked away, nodding to you as he walked out of the room, “I’ll get the soup ready and we’ll get some fresh air,’’ a hint of nerves in his voice.


	5. Chapter 5

You couldn’t figure him out, you had been overthinking everything since Friday night. You left the bedroom and walked out the back door by yourself to the yard that lead to the lake. It was sunny and a beautiful day, and you wanted to get closer to the water. The view was gorgeous, you could understand why he painted some of these views. It was quiet and it seemed like a great spot to unplug. It was a very different pace from the city, sometimes a little fresh air is what you don’t know you need to relax.

You felt eyes on you, you thought he may had been looking at you through a window, but you didn’t care. You wanted him to look at you, so you stood there looking at the beautiful lake for a few minutes. You didn’t think you should make the first move. He was being hot and cold since you got here. Maybe he didn’t know what he wanted either. At the same time, you’re the one with the crush on him. Finally, after going back and forth, you made up your mind to - as he said – just have a nice day together. You thought he might need a hand in the kitchen, so you turned around and went back in the cabin.

He was there chopping up vegetables, “Steve,” you softly called to him as you stepped into the kitchen with him. He stopped and turned around, his soft blue eyes making contact with yours, making your feelings bubble up again. You swallowed hard, doing your best to hide it. You looked down at his hands and back into his eyes, “Let me help you, what do you need?” a smile came across your face. You decided from here, you were not going to overthink things anymore… if you did overthink, it just ruined absorbing the good moments that could happen with him.

“I’m making a base for the soup, can you cut up some onions?” he passed them over to you, along with a knife on the kitchen counter.

You smirked, as your sense of humour came out, “What?” a smile came to your face, “You can’t cut them? Afraid you’ll cry?” you teased. He scoffed, looking at you. “You know… I hear cutting onions can be a VERY emotional experience.”

He started to laugh… Laugh… When on earth did you ever see Captain America laugh. That smile… it made you weak in the knees. You looked away, a smirk on your face, satisfied to successfully make him happy. You thought of your nights by your bed at home, looking at that picture of you and him at the New Years Eve party, his half smile on his face. You wished it was the full on smile, like now. Wished you could just take a picture in secret in this moment, just by blinking your eyes – just to catch that rare glimpse of his full smile, teeth and dimples showing. You could look at his smile forever. Your smile faded fast at that thought, he didn’t catch it though as you were looking down at the work you were doing.

Lunch was pretty normal, just talked shop about work at the Avengers Tower. He brought you outside and took you around to the side of the cottage to a wood pile that needed to be chopped. “You need help? Both of us doing it can complete it two times faster,” a grin on your face. He looked over his shoulder, grinning back at you but no verbal response. You raised an eyebrow, teasing him again, “I promise I won’t make it a competition.” He looked at you again as you smiled. He seemed to relax more, like the pressure he was under started to go away. You liked seeing him like this. You wanted to see him like this more often.

Sure enough, he put you to work, but you didn’t mind it – until the axe handle started giving you sores on your hands about half way through. You were glad you put a dent in the pile though, and looked at your hands. You had no calluses on them and doing this work was making red marks on your hands, it stung to the point where you had to take a break.

“Y/N? You alright?” he stopped chopping and walked over to you.

“It’s my hands, not used to doing this kind of work,” you felt embarrassed.

“Let’s see,’’ he looked down and reached for your hands, opening and turning his palms towards you. It was only then that you were conscious of how large his hands were compared to yours AND how surprised you were that Steve himself, did not have any calluses on his hands.

You lifted an eyebrow, as he saw how irritated your hands were, “Man… Super soldier serum has it’s benefits, doesn’t it…” you said as you looked into his eyes.

He paused holding eye contact with you, “Yes, there’s a few…” You felt your face getting hot since he was still holding onto your hands and standing so close to you. You liked how his touch on your hands felt, his skin was soft. You remembered how he put his palm over your hand on the motorcycle. “I don’t have any ointment; you take a break. I’m almost done here, and ahh….” He glanced back at the cottage. “Head inside, I’ll be in shortly,” he nodded.

“Alright,” you agreed at you headed back inside. You were going to come out with a glass of water for him, only to see him come back into the cottage carrying lost of wood for the fireplace.

“Don’t worry, Doll. I got this,” he grinned as he passed you, seeing you got the drink for him.

_“Hey… Did he just call me… Doll? ... He probably said that to every woman back then,”_ you thought.

He was back again with more firewood, and he brought it inside. His arms were huge, it did things to you and you loved looking at him. He grabbed the two fishing rods and made eye contact with you. “I have a boat,’’ a smile came to his face.

You don’t know what came over you, but you got a boost of confidence after he said that to you. “And we… Have an afternoon.” You took one from him and both of you smiled at each other. You were excited where this could go next.


	6. Chapter 6

The boat was more of a canoe, he neglected to mention that. Nevertheless, the weather was brilliant and you found it to be a good day to go fishing. You weren’t familiar with the process, but he was more than happy to put the bait on the end of your hook for you and show you how to cast it into the water. This was an excellent change of pace for you, and now you could relax more. You were thankful he brought you on this trip.

There you both sat in the middle of the lake, birds were chirping and the sounds of cicadas echoed in the trees. You both sat back to back for a while in the canoe, which in your mind made things feel less awkward. There was, for the first time, a comfortable silence between you both and it warmed your heart. It was just nice to know that he wasn’t so far away.

“How are your hands?” he asked thoughtfully. You knew that’s why you loved him, most people would forget or carry on with whatever they wanted to do. He just wanted to make sure you were alright. “Can you hold the fishing rod?” he looked over his shoulder at you.

You looked back over your shoulders making eye contact, your expression soft, “Yes, I’m fine,” a smile on your face.

The cottage still in view, you felt so glad to be there with him. You glanced at how the sunshine shimmered in his beautiful blonde locks. Every time you noticed, you wished to run your fingers through his hair. You turned back to look at the beautiful scenery. It was bright and sunny; the sky was a light blue with puffy cotton-ball clouds. The lake was peaceful and the lush green grass and leaves on the trees reminded you of your good memories of previous summers gone by.

“The boat is the best place to go if you want to have a conversation with someone,” you frowned, as you turned to face him, nervous about what he was going to ask. He continued, “We’ll have privacy, no one can hear us.” His blue eyes stared deeply into yours, “And there’s no place for you to go…” You raised your eyebrows concerned. “So…” He started leaning in closer to you, “Why did you stop attending our grief counseling meetings?”

You were afraid that question was going to come up sooner or later… It was because you had developed feelings for him and you didn’t want him to know.

“I don’t know…” you whispered; your eyes sad.

“I think you do know, Y/N,” he said softly, not breaking eye contact with you.

“Steve…” you sighed as you looked at the cottage at the shore. “Is this the reason you brought me out here, to your cottage?”

“My question first…” he was calm, no expression on his face.

You parted your lips, taking in a deep breath, you knew he wasn’t going to let this go. Should you tell him the truth? If you did, would it ruin everything you two have? That’s why you left, you were revealing too much and you saw him at work and you just needed to pull back a bit. You were safe inside your room, alone at night with a picture beside your bed, so you could look at his handsome face and not have to worry about him asking you questions. A horde of thoughts started swirling in your head, but nothing came out of your mouth.

He was waiting for your response, he said nothing, just staring in your eyes. He wanted to know why, but what if he didn’t like the answer? What if you made a fool out of yourself? What if he didn’t feel the same way? Or if he DID feel the same way, you wouldn’t even know how to proceed from that point. You weren’t ready, you were going to close yourself up.

You looked down, looking upset, and looked back into his eyes again. His expression got softer, “It’s ok…” he whispered, “Talk to me…” he reached out his hand and his fingers slightly grazed the top of your hand. You felt a shiver roll down your back, you closed your eyes and bit your lip, holding back still.

“I’m afraid…” you said honestly, looking into his eyes.

“Afraid of what?” he leaned in concerned, he was so close to you that you almost couldn’t hear the water flowing, nor the birds chirping in the sky, his presence felt all consuming.

“Confronting my feelings… It’s just all… Very hard,” was all you could say, you figured he could interpret that any way he wanted. Then a thought crossed your mind, “Did you… Want me to come back to counseling?”

He nodded, “Yes.”  
  


“Why?” you viewed his face, trying to pick up a clue of how he might have felt.

“You’re snapping on people at work again, like you did before you started coming out. I think it would still benefit you.” He grinned, “Besides… It’s just not the same without you,” he said looking back up into your eyes. “Do you know… When you share it helps me too?” his voice and eyes so loving.

That look made your heart flutter, even though it wasn’t what he meant to do, it just hit you the right way.

“I got one!” he said excited, you turned around with a smile on your face as you watched him reel it in. The thing was huge! You both were excited about finding a catch. He puffed out his chest as you watched him unhook the fish and place it in a container.

Then you felt something tug on your line as well… only this thing was really strong… Stronger than you anticipated. So strong in fact that it pulled you out of your seating position and into the water. Problem was, you couldn’t swim! “STEVE!” you yelled as you started to take water into your lungs.

Something you didn’t expect was how deep the water was! You opened your eyes, in a panic as you instantly regretted not taking swimming lessons. You felt yourself sinking lower, you saw the bottom of the boat get further away and the water get colder as you went deeper. You squirmed and tried to hold your breath as your mind started screaming in terror.


	7. Chapter 7

Then you heard some faint splash enter the water, it was dark down there and cold. You couldn’t see what it was, but something warm slid around your lower back and pulled you onto it’s warm body. You were stuck, vines wrapped around your leg. You were now panicked and struggling. Then the warm body was gone, you felt a few strong tugs around your ankle. You looked down, but the dirt kicked up from the bottom of the lake clouded your vision. You didn’t know what to do now, incoherent thoughts swirled around in your mind.

Then, all of a sudden, you felt your ankle break free from the vines holding you down there, and that warm body wrapping around your waist again. You felt yourself ascend in the water, moving up, you were hopeful as you looked up and knew for sure it was Steve. Without thinking you moved your hands to rest on his broad shoulders. You looked up to see his chin pointed in an upward direction facing the approaching surface, the light of the sun coming closer and closer.

You heard the world again, the birds chirping, the sound of the creek. You coughed and gasped, eyes closed, your hair in your face and one arm still holding your body to his side. Somehow, then you were airborne and landed into the boat with a loud thud, you smacked your face on one of the paddles and felt it start to bleed, as a heated liquid started dripping down the side of your face. Then you felt the weight of the boat slant, and Steve grunting with displeasure as he was getting back into the boat. He was out of breath and had crawled into the boat again, you felt his eyes on you.

You still had your eyes closed, you let out a little moan as you took your fingers and felt the gash on the side of your forehead. You winced in pain and coughed some more, trying to get more air. After a moment, you started to feel the boat move. Steve had started paddling towards the shore, you groggily opened your eyes and saw him all wet, his face frantic, rowing until you felt the boat stop at the shoreline, the sound of the sand crunching as the boat came to a complete stop. 

Your eyes snapped open, and you sat up straight to see Steve catching his breath, his eyebrows frowning and staring at you. He slightly shook his head in disapproval, you knew he was angry. “Why did you fall in?”

“I don’t know…” was all you could mumble.

“YOU DON’T KNOW!” he yelled, “You seem to be saying that a lot these days! You always run away!"

Then you frowned and started to cry, once he saw your tears, he realized he let loose too much. He took a few calming deep breaths, “I’m sorry,” you glanced back at him and decided to get out of this boat. You felt very embarrassed at this point, you didn’t want to sit there any longer. Your legs were wobbly and your sense of balance was off, probably due to lack of oxygen and then the bump on the head.

You ended up closing your eyes, again not really able to keep them open if you wanted to, but you could still hear. Steve leaped out of the boat with both feet and picked you up, as you felt your body sway back and forth until he brought you onto the grass and laid you down. Your eyes were closed and you were still gasping for air. You turned to him, dazed and confused, you hit your head pretty hard, “I don’t think I’m in Kansas anymore…” sighting the Wizard of Oz reference.

“Y/N…” he put his hand behind your back and pulled you to sit up straight to help you get the water out of your airways. It took at least 10 minutes for you to fully stop coughing, but he stayed right by your side the whole time, hand on your back, watching you, making sure you were ok.

“I ruined our day…” you managed to squeak out.

He immediately looked at you and frowned, “No…you didn’t. Are you alright?”

Then a breeze blew across the lawn, you held yourself and your teeth chattered.

“I lost the fishing pole,” you sobbed, embarrassed about the whole thing.

“Y/N,” you looked at his hair all soaked, “I can replace that anytime. Can’t replace you though…”

You turned to him, your eyes wet, blood dripping down the side of your head and he held you, both his arms wrapped around you. “Y/N,” his voice soothing. You rested your head on his chest and his hands were in your wet hair. You both shivered as a breeze hit both of your bodies. He pulled back and looked at your face. “You’ll need to change your clothes or you’ll freeze.”

You looked away, thinking, “I… Didn’t bring any. I thought we’d only be here for the day.”

He nodded slightly, “I’ll give you some of my clothes.”

You kept looking into his eyes, your head was still spinning from the bump your received. Then you started squinting your eyes as the daylight made your eyes sensitive. 

His eyes widened, “Here, get inside,” he helped you up off the grass and into the cottage. He walked you into the bathroom and took out rubbing alcohol and some bandages and cotton swabs. “This is going to sting a little, Y/N,” he paused getting everything set up in the bathroom, when he turned back to you again, “Now, close your eyes while I clean you up here.”

You did as you were told, and indeed you felt a sting, you hissed as he placed the swabs of rubbing alcohol on the surface. You felt the nubs of his fingertips brush against the skin on your face, unusually soft. Soft like piano hands. There was something nostalgic about receiving that type of touch, like when you were little and you fell and scraped your knee and you were getting it looked after by an adult.

He stared into your eyes, "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm cold," your teeth chattering again.

He nodded, "Yeah, me too..." he sighed as he lead you into the living room. He started a fire inside the stone wall fireplace.

Once he was done with that, he was still facing the fireplace and he immediately took off his shirt, thinking nothing of it. You froze as he turned around to face you. Whatever your expression was, must’ve been telling as his facial expression changed. He looked amazing, you hadn’t seen him with his shirt off before, and you almost lost your breath. He slowed down his movements and looked into your eyes, then he went into the bathroom and got you both towels.

“I’ll be right back,” he said softly, wiping his face, as he handed you your own towel, “Dry off and I’ll get you some clothes for you to wear,” the look in his eyes were so soft and inviting.

You dried your hair and he came back with clothes for you, he handed them to you slowly. “Steve… I apologize. I’m sorry for falling in –“

You were cut off by him holding your hand, you looked down at them and took a deep breath looking at how small your hand was inside his. His touch grounding you into the moment, something only he could do to you. “Y/N, I was scared I lost you.”

You looked at him wide-eyed, you weren’t ready. Then looked down at the clothes he gave you, “I’ll change in the bathroom.”

He nodded and walked into the living room and placed the logs he brought in earlier into the fireplace, “Give me your clothes when you come out, so I can dry them here.”

You turned and nodded at him, you felt your walls coming up again. You realized upon changing your clothes that you would have to give him your underclothes as well, how embarrassing. This day has not gone as you intended at all. You looked at yourself in the mirror, thankfully no make up today, so nothing to worry about as far as smearing goes. You sighed and coughed, getting the last bits of water out of your lungs.

"You alright in there?" Steve called out.

"Yeah, I'll be out in a minute," you responded. You looked at yourself again, now in Steve's clothes, a long shelve black shirt and grey sweat shorts, which were baggy on you. You thought thank goodness he didn't give you full length pants since he was at least 8 inches taller than you. You gave yourself a crooked smile in the mirror, still going to make an effort to make the best out of a not so great situation. _"Alright! Time to give him my underwear!"_ you thought trying to coach yourself up some courage.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for the delay in updating! I hope you like this new chapter! Please comment or kudo if you like it. It's fun to write. I am using my time off due to COVID-19 to write as much as I can :) Please stay safe and happy reading everyone!
> 
> There's more to come :)

You seemed to wobble each time you stepped forward out of the washroom towards the living room. Steve saw you struggling and immediately walked over and guided you by the arm to sit on the couch. With his other hand, he took your clothes and quickly placed them spread out over the fireplace screen. “Oh,” you said as you reached your hand out, he turned from the fireplace and looked at you surprised, “I’m sorry,” was all you could say as you looked down at the floor confused.

He took a couple of steps toward you, “Y/N,” he squatted down to your eye level and put his hand on your shoulder, “There’s nothing to be sorry about… Coffee or tea?” He paused, “Thought we’d warm ourselves from the inside.”

“Umm…” for some reason you understood what he was saying, but couldn’t focus on producing an answer. You tried to look at him, but your eyes stung and pain pulsed through your head as the sunlight entered your vision.

You winced in pain, “Y/N,” he said softer, looking you over concerned.

“The room is spinning,” you said breathy, as your back fell back into the couch and you closed your eyes.

He leaned in and used his hand to move your hair away from your gash, it was bruised and a bit of blood had collected there forming a scab. He frowned, as he noticed your teeth started chattering again. “I’ll be right back.”

You laid back, your head pounding as you let out little murmurs as the pain pulsed through to your nerve endings. He came back from the kitchen with 2 cups of coffee and set them on the table beside the couch you both were sitting on. “Y/N, I need you to stay with me here,” he said getting settled. “Open your eyes, Y/N,” as soon as you did, the daylight gave you sharp pains starting from your eyes all the way to the back of your head.

“Steve,” you moaned, “It hurts…” He leaned in and gently brought you closer to him, he place one of his arm’s behind your back to keep you sitting up straight.

“Y/N,” he took a breath in, “Open your eyes and follow my finger, without moving your head,” you did as you were instructed. Your body shook from the pain as you opened your eyes and followed his finger in different directions, you were alright until it went to the peripheral vision on the sides. You immediately shut your eyes in pain and winced.

“I’m sorry, Y/N… I just wanted to get you outta the water,’’ he said as he gently let your back lean up against the back of the couch again, removing his hand from your back. You tried to respond, but some jumbled nonsense words came out instead.

“Nod if you understand me…” You closed your eyes and nodded. “Is it the sunlight that hurts you?” You nodded again. “Hmm…” he looked at the clothes you both had on the fireplace screen and thought for a minute. “Y/N, take my hand and squeeze it… as hard as you can…” you paused and tried to open your eyes, _“What was he doing?”_ “Please, Y/N… I need to know if you can hang onto me on the motorcycle when I take you to the Avengers Med Bay.”

You put your head down and frowned, you felt so humiliated. Then you felt his warm, soft hand slide into yours. “Y/N, squeeze now…” he said calmly. You felt the difference from before, your grip was substantially loose, but he nodded, so it must’ve been just enough in his books. You kept your eyes closed, but listened intently as you felt him withdraw his hand from yours and felt the couch rise as he got off the couch. You heard his footsteps walk further away from you; he must’ve gone into the kitchen. Next you heard his voice, “Med Bay? Yes, Y/N hit her head… I’ll be bringing her in.”

_“Oh no,”_ you thought, _“So much for it being a nice day…”_

“She’ll need a scan for sure…” then you heard him become quiet, he must have been given instructions. “Yes, get things prepared. We’ll get there as soon as we can.”

He hung up the phone and walked back into the living room and sat back down on the couch beside you. “Y/N,” your eyes were closed, he wasn’t sure if you were asleep, “Don’t fall asleep, Y/N,” he again placed his hand behind your back and pulled you forward from the back of the couch. “Have some coffee, wake you up a bit.”

You were able to drink thankfully, and able to grip your cup. “As soon as our clothes are dry – or dryer,” he said annoyed, “We’ll get you changed and get going.”

You tried to open your eyes, but the sunlight still pained you as you winced again, and shut them again. He frowned and brought his hand out to cup the side of your face. You were kind of out of it, and unconsciously nestled your cheek into the palm of his hand, as it’s warmth and surface comforted you. Then, the faintest whisper escaped your lips, he almost couldn’t hear it with the sound of the crackling of the fireplace, “I love you…”

His eyes widened; his breath stood still as he stared at your face. Your eyes closed, falling into his hands, sleep overriding your body. Those words took his breath away. He laid you back down on your back and moved pillows behind your head to keep you sitting up.

Your body was weak. You sometimes opened your eyes a crack to see Steve’s shoes walking between you and the fireplace, then you were out again. “Wake up Y/N, your clothes are dry…” you sloppily moved to face him as he gave you your clothes. “Can you stand?”

Reluctantly, you stood on your feet, but you started to feel dizzy and had a hard time not falling to one side or the other. He held onto your arms, making sure you didn’t fall. He guided you back to the washroom and had you sit down to change. He left the room and closed the door, you looked out the small window and noticed the oranges and pinks – it must’ve been sunset.

Your head still pounding, you let out a sigh, _“A day I’ve been waiting for… for years… Only to have it go like this… Fuck!”_ You slowly got your clothes back on and rose to your feet with the help of leaning on the bathroom counter. You turned the doorknob and opened the door to see Steve in the living room, putting out the fire. He could hear you breathing heavily, so he turned and looked at you.

“Y/N, you ready to go?”

You were so disappointed, you looked down at the floor and frowned and then nodded.

“It’s ok,” he said tenderly as he walked towards you. “You need help walking?”  
  


You took a deep breath in, and nodded, as the room began to spin again. He was very astute and perceptive, he put his arm around you and brought you outside on the wooden porch. “Wait here,” he whispered, “I gotta lock this place up.” You nodded as he left you, thinking about how you missed your chance. You’d probably never be up here with him again.

He came through the front door again and locked it. You rose to your feet again and became wobbly, “Oh,” he said catching you in his arms, “You seem to be opening your eyes more… Is it because the sun is low?”

You nodded, but you felt out of it, drowsy. He helped you down the front steps and onto his motorcycle. Times like these he wished he brought the truck instead. You got on behind him and wrapped your arms around him, the motor started running. He moved his face to look at you over his shoulder, “Y/N, hang on tight. We’re gonna go fast.”

Sure enough, he raced out of there like a bat out of hell! A strong wind blowing through your hair, the roads and sky looking grey. His smell from his hair and shoulders, the only way you could describe it was “Steve’s smell”, comforted you as it filled your senses.

You started to close your eyes; a tidal wave of drowsiness came over you as you rested your cheek on Steve’s shoulder. That new sensation alerted him, he frowned as he looked in the side mirror to see you looked to be asleep again. “Y/N,” he called out. He was still moving fast, “Y/N!” he called out to you again, no response. Thinking fast, he immediately took his hand and placed them over both of yours. He was just in time to grab them, as your grip around his waist had become loose.

He immediately pulled over at the side of the road and got both of you off the bike so you both were standing up, “Y/N?” he said holding you. You started to become more awake, occasionally dropping your head, then you murmured, “There’s no place like home.”

This wasn’t funny or cute anymore, he was worried. This wasn’t like you, “Ok, get in front,” he said breathy. You placed your feet on the crash bar, and he put one arm around you. Again, racing off of that soft shoulder as fast as he could.

You again felt the wind in your hair, making you open your eyes half way. There were a few minutes of daylight left. The wind pushed your back against his chest, his face behind your ear. You could hear him breathe heavily; he was worried. You started to feel the drowsiness come over you again. “Don’t worry Y/N…” he whispered in your ear, “I won’t let anything bad happen to you…”

Halfway to being unconscious, your vision starting to fade into the black, you were pushed back hard into him by the wind. His body heat keeping your back warm, you knew you thought it… but you weren’t sure if you actually said it, “I love you…”. Steve’s heart quaked, he took his eyes off the road to look at you for a moment. Then looked back to see a huge pothole! Somehow, holding you with one arm and manoeuvring the motorcycle with the other, he straightened up and avoided it. Breathing a sigh of relief, Steve narrowed his eyebrows at the highway before him and picked up his speed, more determined to get you back safe.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I picture Steve looking so hot in this chapter in his street clothes and blonde hair... damn son...
> 
> I hope you all are enjoying this story so far, please kudo or comment, it's appreciated. Have a great weekend! Stay healthy and stay safe! :)

You woke up in the Avenger’s med bay. Your head still hurt; you could feel it throbbing with the rhythm of your pulse. You held back a groan as you turned your head to the side to see Steve, who was standing by the wall across the room with his arms crossed looking out the window, his back turned to you. It was raining and the clouds were dark, you could hear the soft pitter patter on the windows. He stood there silent, watching the falling rain and night sky.

Your heart ached, you ruined everything… You blew your chance. This did not go as you planned. You took a deep breath and regretted how much you wished you could tell him what you felt for him, but decided these emotions were better left upon the shelf. Where did you think it could go anyway, even if he returned the same feelings?

“Steve…” you murmured while watching him gazing out the window.

He immediately stood taller hearing you, and turned around. His eyes went wide and he started walking towards your bed. “Y/N… How are you feeling?”

“Dizzy…” you said groggy, “Head hurts…” you winced.

He nodded, “The doctor said you had a mild concussion.”

You slowly blinked, registering what he said.

Just then, Nick Fury stepped in, “Captain.”

Steve shot up turning his attention to him, “I need you to come with me, emergency meeting.”

Steve nodded, and turned back to you. You shot him a look, like you didn’t want him to leave. “The doctor will be in soon. I’ll check up on you later.”

“Ok,” you said breathy, and with that he followed Nick Fury out the med bay door.

You heard the door close, the sound echoed in your mind, _“Well… That was it…”_ your heart disappointed, “ _My chance gone.”_

* * *

There you were, back in your apartment with doctor’s orders to rest for the next few days. You were laying down on the couch in your pajamas, watching tv, hoping to find something interesting to watch. You had with you, a package of frozen peas, holding it on the bruise on the side of your face. After channel surfing, you thought you’d bring out a tub of ice cream, you couldn’t help but mope about how you struck out with Steve. _“Everything sucks!”_ was all you could think. Then, there was a knock on the door.

You rolled your eyes and checked the time – it was past 9 p.m. on a Sunday. “ _Who would be knocking on your door at this hour?”_ you thought to yourself, as you sighed and sloppily got off the couch.

You had a hard time walking to your door, so you took smaller steps as to not lose your balance. Then you heard a knock again. You sighed, irritated, “One minute, I’ll be right there.”

You opened the door, feeling annoyed. Once it swung open, to your surprise, you saw Steve’s face. You looked at him shocked for a moment. Your hair was a mess, you looked like crap. _“Oh man… Why is he here? Especially, now?!”_ you thought.

He looked nervous for a split second and then plastered a smile on his face. He was holding something in his hands, you looked down to see that he had bought you a bouquet of mixed fresh flowers, some were daisies, purple irises, and some others you didn’t recognize. They were beautiful!

“Steve,” you said surprised. He smiled at you. You looked down and back at him again, “Are…” you had trouble speaking, “Are those beautiful flowers for me?”

You were shocked.

He lightly laughed, “Yeah,” a side grin on his face.

“Well… Thank you,” you smiled back as you accepted them.

“I just wanted to come by and check on you. How are you feeling?” he said leaning an arm up against the doorframe.

“Ahh…” you paused, “Head hurts still…”  
  


“Yeah…” he looked sad. He bit his lip, “I wanted to apologize-”

You cut him off, “Apologize? For what?”  
  


He took a breath in and sighed, “I… I was the one who threw you back into that boat.” He clenched his jaw, “I should’ve been more careful with you.”

“Oh… Things happen, Steve…” you tried to comfort him. “You didn’t do it on purpose. At least you got me to the doctors,” you smiled.

He tilted his head to the side and looked at you with an affectionate gaze. You double blinked, wondering if you were interpreting what you were seeing correctly. Then he raised his right hand and gently brushed your cheek down to your chin with the back of his index and middle finger. His skin felt soft and as light as a feather. Your eyes widened, and you took a quick and shallow breath in, _“Is he touching me?”_ was all you could think.

Then he brought his hand down to his side, “Well, make sure you follow the doctor’s orders and hopefully… When you’re feeling better,” he looked into your eyes, “We can see each other later.”

You gulped hard, not sure how to take what he said. “Right…” you blinked rapidly.

“Goodnight, Y/N,” he whispered sweetly, smiling at you.

“Goodnight, Steve.”

He grinned and nodded as he turned and walked away from your doorway, down the hall towards the elevator. You stepped back into your apartment, away from his sights, looking down at the bouquet of beautiful flowers in your hand and pressed your lips together. It was so hard to hold back, you wanted to call out to him down the hallway and yell I love you… but… how cringe. You sighed as you closed your door and leaned your back against it. You looked up at the ceiling and thought, _“Only in your dreams.”_


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys like the ending :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *sigh* Don't you wish this could happen in real life? ;)
> 
> Feel free to comment or kudo. I wasn't sure about making a part two of some kind, depending if people are interested, maybe they can have another try at his cottage? Haha, I don't know :) Hope you enjoy!

You opened your eyes and looked at your alarm clock, your blinds were down so you weren’t even sure if it was 7pm or 7am. You groaned moving your face away from the pillow, feeling your head softly throbbing. The pain was starting to go away, a little bit each day. You had been homebound for a few days now, and were starting to get cabin fever. You couldn’t believe that you were starting to actually miss work. Well… Not so much work, as it was seeing Steve at work.

He had been so sweet, you looked at those flowers everyday, every time you stepped into the kitchen since you’ve been home. You had put them in a vase and placed it on the kitchen counter, it really was the focal point of the room. Every time you saw them, it warmed your heart. You didn’t want to read too much into it though, because… Come on… He was apologizing for knocking you out. There was no way Captain America would like you in the romantic sense.

You turned on the flashlight on your phone and turned the light to the photo frame on your night table of you and Steve from the new years eve party. That picture always made you smile and helped start your day on the right foot. Even though you blew it, you could still admire him from afar. “ _Nothing wrong with that,”_ you thought as you placed your feet on the floor. You closed your eyes and assessed how you felt, you didn’t want to get dizzy and lose your balance, as there was no one there to help you up if you fell.

You slowly sauntered over to your blinds, bracing yourself to shut your eyes immediately in case there was too much sunshine, as your eyes still felt sensitive. You held your breath, anxious of what the weather was like. To your surprise, the sun was setting, fading into dusk. You shook your head, thinking how your sleep pattern was going to be off for a while.

Just then, you felt your phone vibrate. You turned it over in your hand and looked to see the number on the caller ID was in fact Steve’s personal cell number. You gasped, your eyes widened, not sure if you should answer. On the fourth ring you caved and answered.

“Hello…” you said.

“Hi Y/N,” he paused, “It’s Steve…”

“Hi Steve...” You weren’t sure what to say after that.

“How are you feeling? Any better?” he inquired.

“Well, head hurts… but a lot less than it did before…”

“Hmm…” he paused, “You sound a lot better than when you were at Med Bay…”

You slightly grinned at his caring tone, “Yeah… The pain is getting less and less… Thankfully.”

“Your voice seems low… Are you alright? Have you been crying?” his pitch getting a bit higher at the end.

“Oh…” you started feeling self-conscious, “No… I… uhh… I honestly just woke up,” you lightly laughed at the end, “I have doctor’s orders to rest and sleep a lot. Apparently, it helps you heal faster,” you paused, “My sleep schedule is all screwed up.”

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

“Well…” you rested your hand on your stomach as you felt it gurgle, “Yeah, I am actually…”

_“Where was he going with this?”_ you thought to yourself.

His voice became a bit chipper, “Well, that’s convenient… because… you see… I’m actually right outside your door with a pizza in my hand.”

Your eyes went wide and your mouth went dry as you turned your head to look at your closed front door. You walked over and looked out the peep hole and sure enough, there he was. That blue-eyed, blonde. He was in his brown leather jacket and white shirt and jeans, holding a large pizza in one hand and the phone in the other, holding it up to his ear.

When he started talking again, you could hear his voice now in stereo, one side on the phone, the other through the door. You put your fingertips on your side of the door, his voice causing the door to slightly vibrate, “Yeah…” he said, “I hadn’t heard anything from you in the past few days and I thought I would check up on you. See if you wanted company, and if not, maybe just food.”

It took you a moment to understand what he was saying, “Oh Steve, of course I could use your company,’’ you smiled. Then you hung up and opened the door. As soon as you opened it, you locked eyes.

He stood there for a moment, taking you in visually and then a boyish grin came to his face. “Can I come in?”

You smirked, “No, Steve,” you said sarcastically… “I only want the pizza. Leave it on the ground and go home!” you joked.

He let out a laugh, but you could sense a nervousness in his voice. Once he stepped inside, he looked around, his eyes immediately falling to the flowers he got you. “Oh!” he stood up straighter as if surprised, “I see you kept my flowers.” Then he cleared his throat.

He did look nervous, and stiff, “Steve?” He turned to look at you and grinned, “Everything ok?”

“Yeah, you?” he said immediately to get the attention off himself.

“Yeahhh…” You looked down at your clothes and realized you were still in your pajamas, “Oh, excuse me… I should go change.”

“No…” he said putting his hand up in a stop motion, “Be comfortable… Don’t do anything you wouldn’t do because of me.”

You blinked, and hesitated. You weren’t used to people seeing you in your pj’s, not that they were sexy at all. They were cotton and black, white and pink with cats on them.

“Ok,” you decided to let your guard down.

“You like cats?” he asked, a grin on his face.

“Yes, and dogs too…” you grinned. Then all of a sudden the smell of the pizza hit your nose, immediately, your stomach reacted and let out a bunch of loud, physically uncomfortable and embarrassing growls. You gasped and curled yourself forward, as you put your hands over your stomach hoping it would stop. After about 30 seconds it finally ended, Steve looked at you wide eyed. You looked up at him sheepishly and said “My hero is here with food to the rescue.”

Steve grinned widely at that and nodded. He placed the pizza box on the counter as you turned around to the cupboards. You came back with the plates, and went back to the cupboards to take out cups, which were on a higher shelf. He watched you and noticed you started wobbling as you stood on your tip toes to grab the cups. He was attentive to this and didn’t want you to lose your balance. He immediately spoke up and approached you, closing the distance between you two, “Y/N, I’ll grab the drinks, you go eat your food.”

“Yes, Sir,” you grinned as you saluted him. He scoffed but couldn’t hide his smile, you were funny. You walked back to the counter and looked back to watch him fill the cups with water, just staring at his stoic face. You parted your lips, “Thank you for bringing this over… I really didn’t feel like cooking.”

He continued getting water for you both at the sink, “I thought you wouldn’t. A girl living on her own, suffered a head injury. The least I could do.”

A part of you didn’t like what he just said, “You know, you don’t have to be nice to me out of guilt.” He turned and walked over to you and passed you a cup of water. “I’m not mad that I got concussed. I mean… I wouldn’t wanna do it again… but…”

“But what?” he said seriously, looking into your eyes.

“Don’t do all of this for me… Because you feel sorry…” that was the best way you could express it, so you thought.

He was silent for a moment, “What about wanting to do this, just because I want to do this…”

“Yeah,” you nodded, “That’s more… What I’m after…”

His blue eyes looked into yours, his stare seemed intense, not taking his eyes off you. It was like there was an invisible string getting tighter and tighter. He took a sip of his water but never broke eye contact with you. You blinked and looked down, afraid of your next question… “So, what do you want to do now?” you said looking back up at him.

“I was thinking,” he took a nervous breath in, “We could have a second shot of watching The Wizard of Oz,” he said sweetly as he started to smile.

You felt relief pour over you, “Yeah…” you blinked. “Yeah, I could do that!” you smiled back at him. “I’ll get that all queued up…”

Steve grinned and grabbed all the food and brought them into your living room while you got everything set up. A hint of excitement ran through your body to know that Steve was going to be here with you again. It was always nice when he was around.

Then you got up and went into your room, “Steve,” you called from your room, “You want a blanket?”

“No, thanks… I’m alright,” he said as he sat down at the couch. He sighed and looked at the other couch you sat on last time and grinned.

Once you came back in Steve moved his eyes towards you. His brow frowned a little as he noticed you were only looking at him.

“Move over…” you grinned.

He raised his eyebrows, “Uh… Yes, ma’am…” he said surprised, and immediately moved to one side as you sauntered over and sat down beside him on the couch with your blanket covering your legs. With the pizza box on the coffee table between you guys and the movie starting, Steve was starting to sweat, he expected you to take the other couch like last time.

Right on que, you started balling your eyes out at the beginning musical piece. You felt his eyes on you and could already sense him smiling. You tried your best not to look, but you caved and turned your face to him… Sure enough he was smiling and staring at you.

Without thinking, you moved your arm and slapped his shoulder with your hand, “STOP IT, STEVE!” Which only made him start to laugh. You sighed, “STOP LAUGHING!” you scolded him, only to end up laughing at yourself, while using your other hand to dry the tears streaming down your face.

“You old soul…” he said softly as he grinned.

“Yeah… Probably…” you said breathy as you grinned, still wiping your face and laughing.

He turned back to the movie, a small smile on his face. You liked seeing him relaxed. He needed this too. You turned your head back and started watching the movie. On occasion you would experience shooting pains in your head and you winced and started rubbing your neck. The throbbing was starting to come back. You rolled your head back to rest it on the pillow, but doing so tilted your head up too high that you could no longer see the tv screen.

Steve noticed your movements, “Hey… Y/N… Are you alright?”

“Hmm… My head and neck hurt. I don’t know if I can watch the movie…” you sighed disappointed, then you leaned to the side and rested your head on the armrest of the couch, but there wasn’t enough room to lay down comfortably.

Then Steve piped up and said, “Pass me a pillow.” He placed it on his lap and motioned you to come over, “Lay your head down,” you looked at him hesitantly, “It’s ok, I wanna make your head feel better.”

You let your guard down and moved to lay on the other side, resting your ear on the pillow in his lap, your face looking at the tv. It was more comfortable this way, then he asked “Where does it hurt?”

“Around my temples, my neck and shoulders,” you continued looking at the screen, when you saw out of the corner of your eyes both of his hands emerging and him placing them on your shoulders, giving them relieving squeezes, not too loose, not too tight. You closed your eyes and lightly exhaled at the relief he was giving you, you had tension built up in those spots for a while. After a few minutes of that, he motioned you to lay on your back so his hands could have access to both your temples. There he gave you a temple massage. You couldn’t help but close your eyes as his two fingers on each side of your face rubbed your temples in slow, hypnotic circles, releasing tension and pain ever so slowly.

“Does this feel nice?” he asked, a hint of hope in his voice.

“Mmm… Yes,” a small smile formed on your face.

“Is it nice having a movie night with someone you love?”

Your eyes shot open, a sense of dread coming over you… “ _Whaaa?”_ You thought.

You didn’t notice that you stopped breathing, staring at him.

“It’s ok…” he slightly smiled, “I wouldn’t be here unless I felt the same.”

Your jaw dropped, “Steve…”

“Shhh… Just relax and watch the movie… We can talk about it later…” he smiled.


End file.
